The inaugural function of the Goa [Images] International film festival to be held on November 23 is likely to see a galaxy of Indian film stars. It will be held at the Dayanand Bandodkar football stadium in Panaji.

Shashi Kapoor will be the chief guest at the function. Other invitees include Anil Kapoor [Images], Vidya Balan [Images], Bengali actor Prasenjit and Telugu actor Venkatesh.

The festival will be inaugurated with Pedro Ammodovar's Volver and the closing film will be Alejandro Gonzllez's Babel [Images].

Sridevi [Images] will inaugurate the mainstream Indian cinema section comprising of 12 blockbusters of various Indian languages at Panaji's Kala Academy. This section will also feature Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra's Rang De Basanti [Images].

The festival will pay tribute to late veteran actor Prithviraj Kapoor and late music composer S D Burman.

It will also pay homage to famous film personalities who passed away this year like Kannada movie icon Dr Raj Kumar,  actress Nadira, music director Naushad, Malayalam actor Oduvil Unnikrishnan, actress-cum-writer P Bhanumathi, director Hrishikesh Mukherjee, South Indian actress Sri Vidya, shenoy maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, actress Parveen Babi and Punjabi film director and two times National award winner Manoj Punj.

A retrospective of the great Malayalam filmmaker Govindan Aravindan will start on November 25 with his film, Vaasthyhaara.